On a recent college recruiting trip, Mackenzie Aries couldn't
help but notice the teetering stacks that cluttered the
volleyball coach's office.

In one corner was a pile of DVDs. Nearby, a heap of VHS tapes.
But not one belonged to Aries, a senior this season at San
Dieguito Academy.

Turns out the coach knew all about Aries anyway because she'd
spent hours browsing through a Web site the 6-foot setter had
built to market herself to colleges.

Aries said the coach
told her she didn't even have a VCR anywhere in the
building to view recruits' videos.

“She was like, 'That's just ridiculous. Why would I want
to do that when I can just double-click and there you
are?' ” said Aries, a three-year starter for the
Mustangs. “She said this could be the recruiting tool of
the future.”

Determined to play volleyball at the next level, Aries –
an All-San Diego Section Division III pick a year ago –
has taken her future into her own hands, creating an
elaborate Web site that showcases her talents.

Online: To view the
Web site San Dieguito Academy's Mackenzie Aries has
built to showcase her skills to college volleyball
coaches, visit Kenzilla.com

At the same time, she is proving to be at the forefront of a
trend that could open doors otherwise shut for athletes like
Aries.

“It makes sense,” said longtime San Dieguito volleyball coach
Dexter Harvey, who gushed about Aries' work ethic and eagerness
to learn about the game. “It's very smart and I'm glad (Aries)
is taking advantage of the technology.”

Nearly every year, it seems a Reggie Bush, Candice Wiggins or
Chase Budinger comes through the region, making the recruiting
process look deceptively easy.

College coaches gravitate toward those prized recruits. The
athletes find their mailboxes bursting with letters, their cell
phones blowing up with text messages. Narrowing down five
schools for official visits is harrowing – a problem
lower-profile athletes wished they had – and those trips make
local headlines as the prized athletes tour campuses.

But that's the exception – not the rule.

According to the National Association of High School
Federations, more than 7 million high school students across the
nation played sports in 2005-06, the last year statistics were
available.

Of that number, the NCAA estimates only 126,000 athletes – or
fewer than 2 percent – are receiving full or partial athletic
scholarships at the Division I or II level.

Except for high-profile sports at the largest universities,
recruiting in many cases begins with athletes making that first
significant contact with coaches, many of whom already are doing
all they can to stretch every dollar of their recruiting budget.

“The bottom-line reality of someone in our position is that we
are paid to go out and find student-athletes who fit the mission
of the institution,” said UCSD men's basketball coach Chris
Carlson. “That's a very basic thing that will never go away.”

Carlson said Web sites like
Aries' are a big help to coaches in all sports.

“It's no substitute for the naked eye,” he said, “but it's
certainly another resource.”

Private recruiting services market themselves heavily to high
school athletes and their families, but those services can cost
thousands of dollars and by no means guarantee a scholarship.

Another option is navigating the recruiting process on your own.
That's what Aries chose to do, and college coaches say plenty of
recruits are joining her, sending them video or a link to a
public video-sharing Web site like YouTube.

Inputting “college recruit” into the search field on YouTube
yields more than 450 hits, many just like the videos produced by
Aries.

But few have taken that video and incorporated it into a Web
site rivaling that of Aries'. At least that's what she has heard
from the 40-plus coaches with whom she has had contact.

“(They) contacted me and said, 'Hey, this is really cool,' ”
noted Aries, who said she's narrowed her focus to three
colleges.

Aries' interest in computers was cultivated at an early age. Rod
Aries, Mackenzie's father, recalls his toddler daughter sitting
on his wife's lap, learning to read with help from children's
software.

At age 11, she was attracting 200 visitors a day to a Web site
she created about Beacon's Beach in Encinitas, complete with a
Web cam pointed at the waves.

Her education in the computer language HTML came not from
watching over the shoulder of her father, who owns an Internet
company, but through a Web site designed to sustain a virtual
pet.

Still, creating her recruiting Web site was the most ambitious
online endeavor she had ever undertaken, and Aries won't
sugarcoat the more than 50 hours she invested in the creation of
her site.

“It was by no means fun,” said Aries, a 4.02 student who turned
to her dad for help on some of the site's graphics and
outsourced the video editing to former San Dieguito volleyball
player Jimmy Lundgren. “It was tedious, very tedious. It was
like a job, and I spent a lot of time doing it.”

Even when the site finally went live, Aries wasn't finished.
Knowing she wanted to continue her career at a smaller,
academically focused institution, she sent e-mails to coaches
all over the country, introducing herself and her site.

“You can't just have a painting and keep it in your closet and
have people know you're a great artist,” said Aries, who began
playing volleyball the summer before her freshman year. “You
have to go out there and show them what you've done. I contacted
a lot of coaches via e-mail, and all these coaches just went to
my Web site.”

Aries' site, which she updates regularly, features not only
biographical information, but more than a dozen videos. Most of
the videos showcase specific skills and are set to music. Others
feature Aries talking about herself.

Because the videos are also shared through YouTube, one of
Aries' clips has been viewed more than 22,000 times.

“It was one of my first videos up,” Aries explained.

It was an early sign her investment might pay off.

“I'm just really committed to playing in college,” said Aries,
who hopes she'll be able to stay in Southern California to do
that. “It all would be worth it if I got to play in college.”

"Kenzie is the hardest working player I have ever coached. "
Lara Ramey, former USC player and current club co-director

"Kenz is starting to develop the ability to make the players
around her better by directing them. She started to take control
of her team in a positive manner. She has talents that will help
her at the next level."
Pat Powers, Olympic Gold Medalist & Former USC head coach

"Out
of all the girls I have coached Kenzie is by far the best when
you combine strength with coordination and speed."
Stu Waite, Beach Volleyball Coach

"Incredible work ethic, powerful, coachable, perfectionist,
leader, dominating player, works hard at every aspect of the
game."
Diane Pascua AVP player, member of Philippines Olympic team

"...she possesses all the fundamentals that are required to be a
top notch sand player."
Petia Yanchulova, Olympic Beach Volleyball Player

"...very physically powerful player who is at the same time
agile and quick."
Stu Waite, Beach Volleyball Coach

"Kenzie's talents and passion will easily take her to the next
level of the game beyond high school."
Julie Kaiser, Former Club Director, high school volleyball
coach.

"Kenzie gets to every ball."
Dexter Harvey, high school volleyball coach.